*** PEIJIN'S POV***

  I reached for Amelia as she let out a blood-curdling scream, her limbs being tugged in every direction.

  “Stop it! Stop!” I flung Zhige forward, but Amelia summoned the dire wolf first. With a bright white flash, it appeared and quickly snapped at the ghost’s hands.

  The moment the grotesque hands were approached, they quickly vanished back into the walls, meshing with the wallpaper and melting into it.

  The house completely stilled for a moment, and Amelia fell onto the back of the dire wolf. The beast looked over its shoulder and licked Amelia’s face, saliva coating her skin, and she wiped it away with a grossed-out expression.

  Zhige flew back into my hand, and I rushed up toward Amelia and quickly held onto her.

  “Are you alright? Did it get you?” My hand brushed off the saliva from her face, flicking it onto the ground.

  “I-I did good right? I summoned the wolf and fought it off myself.” Amelia’s voice quivered despite her brave words.

  “Yes. Very good,” I quickly ushered the words out before pulling back, staring at her for a moment.

  The entire house rumbled beneath our feet, and I grabbed Zhige in preparation.

  [Hindsight activated!]

  The entire house began to rotate, the floor becoming the wall then the ceiling. Furniture flew everywhere with each rotation. Amelia hung onto the dire wolf as it slid down the old wood floor and tried to claw its way up.

  Yang extended his staff in the middle of the room, so it would connect with the floor and ceiling. One of his hands hung onto the staff, and his other arm held onto Yue.

  “Peijin!” Wei’s firm arms grabbed me, and he jumped around the walls of the house with me in his arms. It was like sprinting on a treadmill full of obstacles.

  He was slightly panting, and his long hair was tied into a thick bun on the back of his head.

  “Are you alright?” He asked.

  I blinked at him for a moment, dodging the swinging lights as glass shattered across the wildly spinning room.

  “Wei… I…” What could I even say to him? I was feeling something indescribable—a part of me wanted to reach out and embrace him, even if it were just for a moment.

  But another part of me quivered from disgust at the thought of his very existence.

  How could I, someone of no redeeming qualities, be worthy of his protection?

  My entire body tensed up as I spotted the front door. A grotesque smile was plastered on it. Its lips were pulled up all the way to its ears, two dimples just beside its squinted and beady eyes. It grew larger, spreading through the wallpaper.

  “No, no, no,” I repeated, my voice getting stuck in my throat like a thick ball of spit. “He’s here! He’s here!” I screeched, pounding on Wei’s wide back as my entire body heaved with every breath.

  Yang reached down and grabbed onto Wei’s arm, flinging him down the hall. I could already feel my body beginning to shrink, and I couldn’t do anything but tightly grip onto his white robes.

  “Feiyu…” I quietly croaked, holding on even tighter. My nails almost tore through the thick, enchanted fabric of his robes.

  The house titled again, this time tilting to an angle. Wei began sliding backward, but he dug his sword into the wall and still held onto my tightly. The ceiling was slowly spinning around until it became the floor under Wei’s feet.

  I perked up instantly, ‘Hindsight’ revealing the threat.

  “Wei! Move! He only lives on the ceiling!”

  The distorted, wicked smiley face appeared just below his feet, and everything froze. The house stopped spinning and the sound of crashing furniture ceased. Wei’s panicked face remained staring at me, Yue was clinging onto Yang, and Amelia was buried in the dire wolf’s fur. But all of them were frozen. Even Zhige’s red eye no longer twitched.

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  And the smiley face stared at me, its face twisting.

  I desperately tried moving my body, but it was like I was paralyzed.

  “Please, please, please,” I whined, my voice high-pitched.

  Not a sound filled the house, nothing but an increasingly eerie buzzing that slowly filled my mind.

  “You’re not real,” I asserted firmly. “You’re not. You can’t do anything to me.” I glared at its twisted eyes.

  The smiley face opened its mouth, its dry, cracked lips morphing grotesquely.

  “Be quiet.” Its voice was hoarse and cracked like an old radio.

  “You’re not real,” I repeated.

  Its smile grew, its lips squeezing together to shush me. “Be quiet!” Its voice boomed louder now, like a harsh whisper.

  “No! Someone’s home!”

  I shook my head again, feeling my nose burn as tears came again. Bile burned my throat, and vomit threatened to burst from my mouth.

  “Someone’s home! You can’t do anything! They’re here right now, you motherfucker!”

  “Be quiet! Be quiet!” Its voice grew louder and louder until the entire house shook around me, any remaining glass exploding all throughout the house.

  “Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet, be quiet!”

  “Stop it! Someone’s home!” I screeched, desperately wanting to cover my ears or shut my eyes, but my body refused to comply.

  “Stop it! Stop it! Fuck you! God damnit, I’ll kill you!” I cried out.

  “Peijin!”

  A woman’s voice pierced through, and my eyes searched for the source. Tears welled in them, but they were yet to fall down my face.

  Yue appeared before me, and her hands had torn through an invisible layer like it was a film of thin plastic. Her upper body slowly squeezed through, her eyes were glowing a deep purple, and her black hair was billowing all around her.

  “Peijin, get out of here! It’s an illusion!”

  I blinked up at her, finally regaining minimal control over my body.

  “Yue?”

  So, this was what the power of the ‘Magician’s Hand’ looked like.

  “Don’t just blink at me, you idiot!” She shouted, her voice a rush of fury. “Get out!”

  Gritting her teeth, she pushed her way through the illusion, tearing it apart with her bare hands before she extended out a pale palm before me.

  “You’re so pathetic sometimes, and it really pisses me off!” Yue said.

  I laughed, looking down at the ground to find that the face had contorted into one of wild anger, its eyes wide and brown pupils quivering with rage.

  My hand slowly moved forward before I finally gained the strength to grab onto Yue.

  “You really are a bitch, Yue.”

  She tugged firmly on my arm and sent me flying out of the illusion until I crashed onto the ground of the haunted house.

  “Humph!”

  My body had was a bit younger—I was maybe 19 or 20 now. Looking up at the group, I apprehensively met their gaze.

  I was shaking like a wet dog from my nervousness, but I attempted to quell it before them. To my surprise, despite the arguably horrifying event that just transpired, they didn’t even look remotely phased.

  Were they even human?

  Yue crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at me. “You’re awfully weak.”

  “At least I’m not stupid. I was the one who told you to pick ‘Magician’s Hand,’ wasn’t I?”

  Yue’s jaw gawked as she looked stunned by my callout.

  “I should’ve left you with Mr. Smiley.”

  “Is that what you’ve named it?”

  She raised her hand like a hand puppet and made it look like it was babbling nonsense.

  Laughing lightly, I shook my head before I grabbed her sleeve and pulled myself up. “You really do get on my nerves. Thank you.”

  Suddenly, I heard a deep snarling from behind me, and I turned to face the dire wolf. Its massive lips were peeled back, revealing a terrifying array of menacing teeth. It snapped blindly down the hall, shackles raised.

  “Peijin,” Amelia’s small voice called out, “There’s something wrong here. I mean it.”

  Out of all of us, Amelia looked the most scared, her hands shaking violently in front of her.

  “Do you have some kind of animalistic instinct now?” I teased her, ruffling her hair.

  She furrowed her brows and her voice hardened, much to my surprise. “No, I’m serious. There’s something wrong down the hall.”

  I pulled my hand back slightly, surprised by her reaction. “Let’s get through it quickly.”

  “We can’t,” Yang interrupted, stepping forward to face me head on. “You can’t leave the dungeon room as a baby.”

  “Once we get out, I’ll be normal.”

  “If we get out,” Yang said, his orange eyes piercing my soul.

  I pursed my lips, looking around the group. Since when did they start arguing with me?

  “I’m telling you I’ll be fine.”

  “It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”

  Finally, the crackling noise in the house came to a still, and the house no longer shook. I paused for a moment, hesitant to trust my senses given the past illusion, but when I met Yue’s gaze, she gave me a reassuring nod.

  “Let’s go now. You guys can drag me back here if I turn into a whiny, gross baby, alright?”

  Yang furrowed his brow but relented, standing beside me with his staff prepared. Wei flanked me as well, and Amelia rode in front atop the dire wolf. Yue walked behind, stepping on the back of my worn-down shoes to trip me.

  We passed the bathroom door. Was I seventeen now?

  I wondered if Feiyu would have gotten through a room like this by now.

  Wait, what the hell was I doing thinking of a brute like him?

  Bedroom door. Fourteen.

  “Peijin, you can’t walk past this,” Amelia turned back, her wide blue eyes looking dark and foggy.

  I was barely taller than her at this point, though part of it was because I had always been short.

  “We’re almost out. The exit is just after this hall.”

  I pushed her aside, standing by the slightly opened door.

  “See? Don’t worry, Amelia. I trust you guys to protect me, not that I’d need it,” I replied cockily.

  Amelia winced and moved to cover her ears for a moment, the dire wolf shifting uncomfortably.

  “Peijin-”

  A massive sound exploded from the front of the house causing Amelia to shriek in pain. Debris erupted straight toward us. Yang whipped his staff forward and whirled it in the air, knocking back most of the chunks while Wei caught the rest.

  “Peijin, are you alright?” Yang said, looking over his shoulder to where I was standing.

  Or where I should have been standing.

  Countless hands had erupted from the wall unnoticed, their long, pale blue fingers gripping onto my skin with overwhelming power. They were slick and sickening, forcing their way all over my face and even into my mouth, stopping me from crying out.

  Before I could let out my muffled scream, they sucked me through the open bedroom door as it slammed shut behind me.

  Bang!